Dumped Trump Juror Stunned by ‘Cowardly’ Judge

(Dreamstime)

A juror dismissed in Donald Trump’s business records trial reportedly said he felt caught in a “competition” between a “cowardly” judge and prosecutors.

Herson Cabreras told USA Today he was “really surprised” to be dismissed from service by Judge Juan Merchan after having already been picked in the high-profile criminal case.

“I said, ‘Wow, something else is going on here.’ But they decided not to take me, and that’s it. What can I say? So I said, ‘Fine,’” Cabreras said. “Everybody wants to look good and fair in front of the public, but they don’t act fair.”

The sudden dump came after prosecutors raised the issue of a 1991 incident in which Cabreras and an associate were accused of tearing down political campaign signs in Harrison, New York, according to USA Today. A majority of the signs belonged to Republicans.

But Cabreras, who is in his 70s, claimed he barely remembered the incident when prosecutors confronted him Thursday, and never had to disclose the incident on other civil juries in New York on which he was picked.

“I didn’t expect they were going to go into my history of 30 years and pull out something I didn’t even remember,” he said. “I just thought it was an excuse” for prosecutors to get him off the jury.

And though Cabreras expected Merchan to intervene, the judge did nothing, Cabreras said.

“I looked at him, like, Aren’t you going to say something?” Cabreras said. “I’m sitting there, I’m the target, and he’s supposed to be judging. And he just let it happen, he didn’t say anything.”

According to USA Today, the questionnaire provided to jurors required them to disclose encounters with law enforcement or the criminal justice system.

During his initial appearance at the questioning process, Cabreras said Trump is “fascinating and mysterious,” the outlet reported.

“He stirs up all kinds of things,” Cabreras told the outlet. “The guy walks in, and people go crazy. That’s what I meant,” adding he “didn’t even notice” Trump when he walked into court.

Cabreras said Merchan is a “cowardly judge” for allowing the prosecution to dredge up details from the decadesold incident.

“I feel sorry for the other jurors,” Cabreras told USA Today. “Because if the way they treated me is any indication of how they’re going to treat other potential jurors, then I feel sorry for them.”

Cabreras said that despite asserting he could have been impartial in the trial, “they did me a favor” by bumping him from the jurors — saying his family “was not happy with all this.”